Tag Archives | discipleship

An amazing move of God is sweeping around the world today. Millions are coming to Christ and tens of thousands of churches are being planted as disciples make disciples who make disciples. If you look closely at what is taking place, you will see how incredible it is. What started in several out of the […]

I love to study the Bible but recently my Bible study led me to a surprising conclusion: We should quit telling people to study the Bible, and start telling them to meditate on and delight in it. This is what happened. I was teaching a class on how to study the Bible and in preparation […]

A simple but revolutionary way of doing evangelism and small groups is sweeping the globe. It started in India but it’s rocking the world. In suburbs of San Francisco, slums of South America, and Muslim tribes of Africa, the lost are being won, disciples are being mobilized, and churches are multiplying. It’s called the “Disciple-Making […]

Ka-Blam! My concepts of how to do small groups, evangelism, and discipleship, just blew up. I thought I knew a lot about these things. I’ve been a pastor, small group writer, and small group consultant for 30 years. I even did my Ph.D. research on what makes groups grow. But recently my paradigms of small […]

My favorite curriculum for small groups and smaller discipleship groups are the three books by James Bryan Smith entitled The Good & Beautiful God, The Good & Beautiful Life, and The Good & Beautiful Community. I have gone through the first book with five small groups and the entire series of all three books with […]

For years I was a strong proponent and practitioner of one-on-one discipleship. I loved working with new believers and emerging leaders in this way, watching their lives change in this powerful context. I was not only a practitioner of one-on-one discipleship, I also taught others how to do it and I co-authored a best-selling and […]

Jesus’ ministered to people at four relational levels. Understanding these levels is pivotal to having the same impact that he had. The four levels can be illustrated by concentric circles. The Four Levels of Relationship In the widest circle, Jesus’ ministered to the crowds—preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons, contending with opponents, etc. Within that […]

Today’s seminaries are largely ineffective. We know this objectively and subjectively, but it’s hard to put our fingers on why they are ineffective. What do I mean when I say that we know this objectively and subjectively? Objectively, we can see that there is a significant negative correlation between seminary education and both church health […]

I’ve quit doing one-on-one discipleship and so should you. Let me tell you why. First, let me explain that I used to love doing one-on-one discipleship and I did it for years. I’ve taught on how to do it across the United States and in other countries. I even co-authored a great one-on-one discipleship book […]

Over the past 35 years I have used lots of great books and curriculum in leading small groups and discipleship groups—some of them written by me. Thinking of all of the good material I have used, my favorite small group curriculum now is The Good & Beautiful God, by James Bryan Smith. My friend small group […]